Campaigns Will Keep the Focus on Mothers

Sunday was our annual day to show how much we appreciate and love our mothers. While we have a holiday to focus on our mothers for one day, the presidential campaigns will keep up that focus on them for the rest of the 2012.

Polls currently show that the Presidential race should be tight and key battleground states are attracting attention from both candidates. While each battleground state offers unique elements and issues, there is a group voters that exists in every state that polls show respond to similar issues, despite geography.

That group, of course, is moms.

Moms have always been key decision makers in every family, no matter the size or make up. Their importance to presidential and all other candidates has always been critical.

However, the reason that they are the prize group of voters in 2012 is because they represent one of the few groups of voters that respond to both progressive and conservative policy choices.

They are the ultimate independent voters.

It is not hard to imagine a Republican mom voting Democratic because of her views on education, nor is it hard to imagine a Democratic mom voting Republican because of her views on fiscal policy.

Mothers are also an ideal group of voters because moms respond to different issues, are actively thinking about the future and often are very influential within their own families and other circles.

This isn’t an earth-shattering political science discovery here. However, the 2012 election will shine a spotlight on this concept because there are a shrinking number of undecided voters out there, based on our ever polarizing political climate.

Americans have always enjoyed disagreeing over politics, and with a civil war in our history, we can’t say the country has never been this divided. However, this era of political polarization is at least in our country’s top ten.

That division means that with fewer independent voters available, winning them over becomes a critical priority.

In a tight race, no group of voters can be ignored. But some groups are simply more valuable than others.

The value of the mom vote will be shown by the Presidential campaigns both in Colorado and across the nation throughout 2012. President Obama knows he carries an advantage on some issues but Mitt Romney also knows that some of his conservative politics may play better among moms.

Moms, just like any other group of voters, are very diverse in their opinions. But that is the beauty of this group for the campaigns. That diversity means the group is up for grabs. The same cannot be said about college students who trend progressive or seniors, who tend to vote on limited issues.

So while moms everywhere received flower, gifts or some other kind of attention on Sunday, they can expect even more attention from the Presidential campaigns this fall. Except, their gifts will come in the form of non-stop thirty second ads and full color mailers.About The Blogger

– Dominic Dezzutti, producer of the Colorado Decides debate series, a co-production of CBS4 and Colorado Public Television, looks at the local and national political scene in his CBSDenver.com blog. Read new entries here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Dezzutti writes about federal, state and local matters and how our elected leaders are handling the issues important to Colorado. Dezzutti also produces the Emmy winning Colorado Inside Out, hosted by Raj Chohan, on Colorado Public Television.